On SmartCustomer, businesses may not offer incentives or pay to remove reviews. Learn more about our Review Guidelines.
Geni Reviews Summary
Geni's reputation has significantly declined, with numerous customers expressing frustration over inaccuracies in family trees and a lack of effective customer support. Users frequently report difficulties in correcting erroneous information and the inability to manage their own trees due to interference from volunteer curators. Concerns about misleading pricing practices and inadequate communication channels further exacerbate dissatisfaction. While some long-term users initially enjoyed the platform, recent experiences suggest a shift towards a more negative atmosphere, leading many to recommend alternative genealogy services for reliability and user support.
This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews
We monitor reviews for authenticity
I decided to have a DNA test done so I went to the pull-down menu in Geni took me to the MyHeritage site to order it. Now, after I received the results, found out that Geni does not accept the results from MyHeritage. What kind of scam are they pulling? The only DNA results they use are from a different web site and not the one they direct you to. Do not use Geni.
If you want to build a tree and keep it to yourself, Geni is not a good fit. If you want to create records and are open to corrections from others - or correcting what others have recorded - Geni is great. Different paradigm. Like lego kits vs freestyle.
I discovered that they said that I was deceased, when I contacted them to complain they denied any responsibility and indicated that all entries were entered by users. I am not a user of their website and never will be. Please check entries carefully to ensure that you are not marked as deceased.
Primrose, that's not at all what happened. I told you that we can't find the profile that you mean, but if you would send us a link we would delete it. You would not even do as much, so you left us unable to help you.
Am unable to cancel my so called free trial. Keep telling me to click on "Make Changes to Your Geni Pro Subscription" but there is no button!
Sandra, it's possible you're not actually on the Free Trial, then. (The Geni "Basic" account is completely free). Please email [email protected] and we'll be sure to take care of this for you.
Honestly, f**k Geni. I'm not even bothered about being polite because i'm mad. Suck on that. (I don't want my review removed so i'm gonna have to censor myself *******@sitejabber PLEASE don't remove my review i need to vent somewhere).
I started building my family tree on Geni a few weeks ago and since then i've been putting many, many hours and a LOT of bloody work into my family tree. I added I would say an odd 300 ancestors in those past weeks. It was a LOT of work. A whole gdamm lot. Then, a day or two after i'm (mostly) finished and i'm admiring my tree that I made on my own, some random lady who i have no bloody idea who she is contacts me and tells me that she modified my tree and that she edited it. What the f***? I blocked her but the damage is done and even after i blocked and reported her, she STILLS messes around in my tree! Like bih tf! I'm so f mad like I know there is a more polite and calm way of describing this but i'm too pissed to be polite sorry.
So long story short, my whole tree, that took me weeks to build, with sweat and almost tears, was messed up overnight by some random af woman. Now when i look at my tree a whole 300 years ish is missing as well as many, MANY ancestors, and instead, their siblings are in there. Like i'm interested in only my direct ancestors, not their siblings or second spouses, yet geni think i effing do. At NO point did Geni or this random woman ask me for my permission for them to modify my tree. They said that it's for the ~global tree~ um no i'm doing this for myself. It's MY tree. I am the one who worked hard on it. I didn't make it to share with random strangers. I should have done it on paper instead but there are so many people to write down that i'm discouraged from doing it. So i guess all my work went down the drain.
So if you wanted to make your own tree on Geni, DONT DO IT SIS. Because some random dude miles away from you is gonna rearrange it and you will be PISSED. Ugh rant over. But even in a calm state of mind my point still stands. Don't build your tree on geni.
Geni is a single, shared, collaborative tree where the goal is to combine all of our users family trees into a single tree of the world. If you build a tree on Geni expecting it to only contain the profiles you add, you are going to be disappointed.
This site is riddled with inaccurate information & the profile managers do not seem bothered that they are leading people up the garden path. If you are looking to have an accurate family tree based on facts & reliable sources, rather than a fantasy tree that massages your ego, avoid this site like the plague.
Hi Lisa, we're very sorry to hear that this has been your experience. We believe the collaborative approach results in the best information -- maybe not at first, but as more people bring their information to the table, the quality of the information improves for all of us. Geni is very egalitarian and you have the ability to challenge what you see, provide your own sources and in most cases, correct it yourself for everyone's benefit.
I created the tree and added many relatives. I finally invited a few to join me. Some thought is was a joke and lots of fun to add people they should not. I asked Geni to delete the entire tree so I could start over, but they refused. What nonsense! I started it and should be able to control it! I also cannot delete entries I did not create.
Hi Bill, once a tree has multiple users contributing to it, we can't simply delete it all. If someone is vandalizing the tree by adding nonsensical profiles, email [email protected] with specific links and we'll handle it.
I appreciate Mike, from Geni customer support who helped me correct the mistake on site, quickly. In his communications with me, he was clear, concise, professional, kind and courteous. I appreciate people who make it happen and do it right and have a positive attitude, like Mike from Geni support team. Way to go Mike. Keep up the good work.
Sam
Entered info that did not present accurately. Tried to undo. You CANNOT. Tried to make contact with geni, you CANNOT.
Hi Genealogy E, of course you can edit information that is entered incorrectly. I recommend you ask for help from our volunteer curators at the following discussion: https://www.geni.com/discussions/178003
No way to edit mistaken relationships that I can see, this site is useless! I was just looking for another way to continue family research since I got disgusted with ancestry.com
Hi Patti, Geni is a massively collaborative shared family tree. The vast majority of information on our site is open for all to view and edit. We recommend users with questions or problems ask for help from our volunteer curators at the following discussion: https://www.geni.com/discussions/178003
This is a RIP OFF company. I bought a subscription and then was unable to view my own grandfathers' records unless I paid more money! I called to complain and the 'Customer Service' Rep told me sorry, you don't get your money back. You have to pay, we are right, too bad lady. Third world country crummy service rip off artists. Stay away. Their 'records' are inaccurate anyway. I paid with Pay Pal and Pay Pal gave me my money back. Shame on your My Heritage.
Hi Tom, I'm sorry you had this frustrating experience. I suspect what you saw are Record Matches from our parent company, MyHeritage, which are under a different subscription than our Geni Pro (they do different things). That said, we are very generous with our refund policy (managed out of California and Ireland, by the way) and if you would like to email us at [email protected] we'd be happy to assist you.
Gee!
You can join for free, but what do you get? NOTHING
In the free version they want all your hard earned information FOR FREE
If you have a question - you have to buy the PRO version, about $120.00 up front to ask.
If you want to contact anyone about more information, you have to but the PRO version
If you want to contact anyone, have to buy the PRO version.
And a lot of the information isn't reliable. A lot of the information is lick & stick, cut and paste. In the Sasser Family there are four set of parents for Howell Sasser.
REALLY?
In other words, you work for them for free and to get anything back, you pay them
I wonder how many people have fallen for, what appears to me as, this scam
But there are a lot of stupid people out there. We see that in every election this country has.
Hi Dennis, I'm not sure where you're getting this information. You can contact other Geni members for free. You can ask for assistance from our curators for free, using the discussion at https://www.geni.com/discussions/178003 (it IS true that Pro users get priority support at help.geni.com)
I've been connecting with many relatives through Geni and am very pleased with my experience. I started with the free version and upgraded to the Pro version after awhile. I also have a data subscription to My Heritage. I began my research with Ancestry but my grandparents all emigrated from Finland, and Ancestry, while good, didn't have as many Finns on the website. There are many on Geni and My Heritage. It's been rewarding for me!
One day i check and i am related to someone famous, the next day, its through marriage only. This is happening more and more. THIS SITE IS CRAP!
I've been trying to contact the current manager of my family tree. I've left numerous messages with them about inaccurate information within our family tree; as well as new info to add to the existing family tree, which by the way, I am not included as being part of, despite my own valid identification and documentation. Does Geni actually care? Of course NOT!
Be careful before uploading your family tree to Geni because when you do there is no turning back. Geni don't care about users private info. How is this site LEGAL anyway? What about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and customers right. As user you should have full control about what you upload including full right to have your uploaded information DELETED by the database and not stored forever.
Warning. If you choose to delete your account your user data WILL NOT be purged by the Geni database. They don't even tell you what info they keep when you are gone. It stays on... all the messages you've sent to other users will still be there and it is like being locked out from your account.
Hi Marge, Geni is fully GDPR compliant. If you have concerns about privacy or your data on Geni you are invited to send us an email at [email protected] and we'd be happy to help you.
By reading reviews I see this site is still corrupted as it was a few years ago. Geni.com does steal private date of living relatives, including your parents, your children, inlaws and more. ALL living and passed on relatives info and photos will be takened by the admins/curators and eventually passed on to others by them. They usually will bad the person with some random reason, take over ALL your profiles, keep your photos you upload, everything about you, your kids, your parents all now for their taking and sharing.
I'm really surprised nobody has done anything about this website yet, legally what they are doing seems wrong and almost identity theft because even if you don't use the site Im sure you will find your name on their somewhere with quite a bit of information on you and you can't even do anything about it.
My own photo and name and other info it on their, stolen from me and on their site, I have tried to contact support for help but got nowhere
Angelina, I'm not sure what you think Geni is stealing? We're a collaborative family tree site; if your tree intersects with data already on Geni (provided by another user), our users can merge those trees together to work towards a single family tree of the world. We are fully GDPR compliant and if you have any concerns about your privacy or your data on Geni you are invited to email us at [email protected] so we can assist you.
Have never see such a bad website in all of the years I have been using the web. Terreble set up, can do anything right with it.
A Geni user stole my PRIVATE info from a private email correspondence I had with him I NEVER gave him permission to share that info with ANYONE! He used all of it and put it on his GENI page. This man is not related to my family.the info I gave him could NOT be found on a website ANYWHERE, until this shady man stole it!
Geni was notified that this compromises my familys safety, to date several months later, they have done NOTHING to rectify this!
STAY AWAY FROM GENI AND MYHERITAGE! SHADY COMPANY, THAT DOESNT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY!
Although I do not subscribe to geni.com I noticed several errors in the data of one of my direct family members. When I contacted the volunteer curator to report the misinformation, I received a caustic, degrading reply in return. He expressed absolutely NO interest in checking into my concerns. If you are serious about obtaining accurate data about your family I would caution you to BEWARE of the information included in the trees on this site.
From the business
Create your family tree and invite relatives to share. Search 180 million profiles and discover new ancestors. Share photos, videos and more at Geni.com.
See reviews as you browse!
Get the Chrome Extension.
Add Extension
- SmartCustomer’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- SmartCustomer has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
- SmartCustomer’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- SmartCustomer has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
SmartCustomer for Business
Gain trust and grow your business with customer reviews.
Claim your free account
Clark, I apologize for the confusion and understand your disappointment. Our DNA FAQs at https://www.geni.com/dna-tests/faq state that the MyHeritage test results "are made available for you to view securely on the MyHeritage website." Lower, speaking of importing DNA to Geni, it states that you can transfer Family Tree DNA test results to Geni. Of course we'd love to also bring MyHeritage test results to Geni but as of this writing, that feature is not available.